ARTH 427 - The Art of The Gift

Credits: 4

While the literature on gift exchange has its roots in anthropology and sociology, art historians have recently carved out a space in interdisciplinary gift studies. In this course, we will explore the legacy of writing on exchange theory, while also exploring the social protocols that have surrounded gifting, the logic of reciprocity, and the political consequences of giving and receiving. Moreover, we will consider a wide corpus of objects that have circulated as gifts around historic networks of exchange and interaction. Prerequisite: Any 100- or 200-level course in Art History, or by permission of the instructor.